


Long Time in Coming

by Ausphin



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-25 00:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4940305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ausphin/pseuds/Ausphin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> It's been a long, long time coming</i><br/>But I know a change gonna come<br/>Oh, yes it will  
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Time in Coming

**Author's Note:**

> After Max finds Chloe again, her old crush from half a decade ago hits her like a sack of bricks.
> 
> Set somewhere between like episodes 2 and 3 but minus most of the dangerous plot stuff ^^;;

_Blzzzzt. Blzzzzt._

 

Max groaned as she struggled to twist herself out of the coil of sheets, rolling to the edge of the bed. Slipping one arm out of the tangle, she picked up her phone, the glaring screen the only light other than the night ambiance trickling in through the window.   _9:36, seven missed messages_.

 

‘Frick,’ she mumbled, pulling up her inbox. The most recent was from Warren, _“Don’t forget the algebra homework’s due tomorrow. don’t let your grade exponentially decay!”_ She rolled her eyes and suppressed a laugh, having finished all but two of the problems the night before.

 

The other five messages were all from Chloe, dating from fifty-five to twenty minutes ago _. “_ _im booored”_ _, “_ _fix it_ ”, “ _earth to mega Max”_ , “ _i swear to god max don’t make me start sending you memes”_ , and   _“on my way to go bust down your door”_. Max’s grin slipped away at the last message. Fighting off a blush, she sat up so fast she teetered and almost slipped off the bed. ‘Oh god, she’s coming here?’

 

Max was always glad to see Chloe but.. her plus on campus plus after hours seemed like a mortifying combination. And since she was late responding, she would probably be at the parking lot by now. Standing up, Max scrutinized her outfit, a beat-up pair of jeans and a t-shirt with ‘Less qq, more pew pew’ in a pixelated font. ‘ _Nerdy, but not like embarrassing. Good_.’

 

Sidestepping, she gently swung open the door to the hallway and peeked out. The only other doors that were open were Brook’s and Dana’s, so thankfully no one too spiteful towards her. And sure enough, halfway down the hall and gaining ground fast, there she was. Chloe had a look of determination muddled with.. worry? But when she spotted Max, it gave way to relief, then was replaced in a flash by her trademark wide smirk. “Yooo, what’s up?!” she called, grinning wider at Max’s thinly-veiled horror at the late-night disturbance.

 

When she reached arms-length, Max frantically ushered her in. “Come on, hurry! Befo-”

 

“Shut up out there!” hissed Victoria through her door and Chloe got to see her friend burn a few shades redder as she swung the door shut rapidly.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Once inside, Chloe started cackling. Max started to scold her but it was hard to hold onto even joking resentment when faced with her laughter. “Ten bucks says she’s gonna leave you a hella passive-aggressive sticky note. _'Will the owner of the blue-haired punk please report to the principal's office?'_ ”

 

“Since when do you have spending money?” Max teased, starting to relax now that they had a wall between them and the rest of the dorm.

 

Chloe gave an exaggerated recoil, clutching at her heart. “Ouch, point taken. But it doesn’t really count when I know it’s a can’t-lose bet.” As she righted herself, Max noticed how close they were, less than a shoulders’ width apart. The other seemed to realize as well, twisting away with a brief flash of red to play it off by looking at the nearest bit of furniture, the small table by her bed. It was sparse save for her speaker and an empty picture frame. Picking up the latter, Chloe glanced back and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

 

“I actually just bought that,” Max answered, squeezing past her to the drawer (and trying not to blush at the glancing touch exchanged).

 

Fishing around, she pulled out the polaroid and gently passed it to Chloe, whose eyes wided as she took it almost reverently. “Dude! I’m surprised you still have this. This was what, Halloween when I was 14? And-”

 

“And I was 13,” Max finished, suppressing a chuckle. “You still love talking about how you’re older.”

 

“Friendly reminder. And unless they’re teaching you how to count different here, my head-start’s gonna keep up for the foreseeable future.” Sliding the photo into the slot, Chloe reluctantly relinquished it back to the tabletop, eyes lingering over the pirate pair. Max could tell exactly what she was thinking by the way her eyes started to fade, but just as abruptly as it started, she glanced away, taking in the rest of the room.

 

Chloe grinned at the photo wall, approving at the rows of Max’s looking back. Pausing by the closet, she turned to stare across the room by the window. “Your plant doesn’t look so good.”

 

Max flushed and nodded, grabbing a bottle off her desk. “Poor Lisa is awful thirsty.”

 

“Same,” Chloe replied automatically, voice a bit muffled as she faced the closet again. Once the bottle was empty, Max stepped to the side and peeked around her, seeing her fiddling with something on the dresser.

 

“Hey!” Chloe turned around guiltily, a cookie and a half sticking out of her mouth. “Busted!!” Max grinned behind her camera, snapping a picture of the ‘evidence’ as Chloe snickered.

 

Raising her hands in sarcastic surrender, Chloe flopped down on the foot of the bed as she crunched her way through Max’s snacks. The photographer hopped up beside her, twisting around to tape the picture to the wall at the bottom left.

 

Satisfied, she turned back around. And froze. Chloe had leaned over curiously and now their noses were practically brushing together.

_‘I’d rather have a life of ‘oh well’s than a life of ‘what if’s.’_

That’s what she told herself anyway as she leaned in, almost coyly brushing lips. Chloe seemed surprised for a second but took it in stride, returning it full-force.  Max leaned away after a few seconds, face burning crimson. Seeing her start to raise her arm, Chloe bounced forward and seamlessly pinned (and her) down in a bearhug against the bed. “No rewinding, Max,” she said, her voice somewhere between a chide and a whiny tone. “Besides, it’s about time you showed some of that nerve to someone other than Prescott.”

 

Max twisted in her group, turning her face against the pillow in embarrassment. “Okay, not going to rewind,” she pouted out after a few seconds. She was released, her ‘captor’ scooting back to the edge. After a moment she sat back up, looking away. “Chloe.”

 

“Yeah?” A certain tension in her voice at what Max had to say.

 

“You taste like peanut butter cookies.”

 

“You are suuuch a dork,” Chloe retorted, swatting at her elbow in relief as the other giggled. “Okay, my turn.” Max yelped as Chloe pounced on her, eyes burning with a gaze that was anything but chaste.

 

 


End file.
